A merge assistance device of the present disclosure includes: an own-vehicle position acquisition unit for acquiring an own-vehicle position; a provisional merge point setting unit for setting a provisional merge point on an own lane; a lane-to-lane distance calculation unit for calculating a lane-to-lane distance from the own lane to the target lane; an attention point setting unit for setting a frontward attention point and a rearward attention point on the own lane; a first approximation expression deriving unit for deriving a first approximation expression approximating frontward attention points and rearward attention points; a second approximation expression deriving unit for deriving a second approximation expression approximating the target lane; and a merging-possible area start point estimation unit for estimating a merging-possible area start point on the target lane on the basis of an own-lane width, a target-lane width, and the first and second approximation expressions.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
3. The merge assistance device according to claim 1, further comprising a merging-possible area start point corrector which, if a start point distance from the provisional merge point to the merging-possible area start point is greater than a first start point threshold distance, corrects the merging-possible area start point to a point away frontward from the provisional merge point by the first start point threshold distance, as a corrected merging-possible area start point.
7. The merge assistance device according to claim 1, further comprising a vehicle controller for controlling traveling of the own vehicle on the basis of a constraint condition for performing lane change from the own lane to the target lane at the merging-possible area start point or on a side frontward of the merging-possible area start point.
11. The merge assistance method according to claim 9, further comprising correcting the merging-possible area start point to a point away frontward from the provisional merge point by the first start point threshold distance, as a corrected merging-possible area start point, if a start point distance from the provisional merge point to the merging-possible area start point is greater than a first start point threshold distance.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
September 23, 2022
December 10, 2024
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.